Tag Archives: pride

Don’t Be a Know-It-All—Humble Yourself

Don’t Be a Know-It-All—Humble Yourself title image

Don’t Be a Know-It-All—Humble Yourself

As a teacher, I’ve had my fill of know-it-alls in my classes. So many people give the impression that they have nothing new to learn or have no room for improvement. Many often want to share what they know and tell their personal stories, as if graciously imparting their own wisdom onto the teacher and listeners. They are the expert in their eyes. There’s a lack of humility, and most of the time they don’t even know it.

I was praying for a difficult student one time. She was a bit of a know-it-all, frequently interrupting me and others to share her own insight and stories. It often seemed like it didn’t even occur to her that she might need to learn what was being taught. I realized that some of the things she was doing were things of which I have also been guilty. Isn’t interesting how we can see some of our own flaws pointed out in others? (See Practical Step #2 in this post) As I was praying for God to humble her I realized that I too need to be humbled. Boy was that humbling! 😉

However, praying “Humble me” can be a dangerous prayer! It can potentially invite in embarrassment, looking bad in front of others, having our wrongs being made evident, or being put in our place. This can be especially hard if you’re a people pleaser or care to much about what people think about you. We might know that we need to be humbled but might not be quite ready to go through the humbling process just yet!

Don’t avoid the need to be humbled in order to be a people-pleaser

Even though the humbling process might be difficult or even embarrassing at times, we shouldn’t avoid asking God to humble us (or humbling ourselves) because of how it might make us look. Self-image should not be a determining factor nor should attempts to please others. Our aim should always be to please God, even if there’s a cost.

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10 (ESV)

“It is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you, but if you trust the LORD, you are safe.” Proverbs 29:25 (GNT)

“For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.” John 12:43 (NLT)

“You like to receive praise from one another, but you do not try to win praise from the one who alone is God; how, then, can you believe me?” John 5:44 (CEV)

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” Colossians 3:23 (NLT)

Don’t be a know-it-all!

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Help From God Might Come As Help From Others

Help From God Might Come As Help From Others

Help From God Might Come As Help From Others

To wrap up our recent talks about “help”, I thought I’d leave you with a reminder. Help from God might come as help from others. So often many of us pray to God for help, and for some reason we get these ideas of how that help will appear. We think God will somehow miraculously intervene. We think that God might empower and strengthen us to handle situations on our own. It doesn’t always come the way we imagine though. Occasionally, it’s much more humbling than we imagine.

Our prayers for help may come in the form of help from others. Frequently we may find ourselves having to admit that we need other people to help fix things we are dealing with or going through. Our gut reaction may be to decline that help because we trick ourselves into believing that we are somehow “less” if we accept help from others. However, we may be refusing God’s help when we don’t accept help from others that He may have sent on our behalf. 

It reminds me of a fable or parable I heard years ago… 

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Ask for Help. Accept Help.

Ask for Help. Accept Help.

Ask for Help. Accept Help.

I was just thinking the other day about how so many of us are hesitant to ask for help. Sometimes, we are also reluctant to accept help when offered. I got to thinking…I don’t think God wants us to be this way. Really, this is just being prideful, especially if it’s a pattern or natural tendency.

The man at Lowe’s said “no”

Earlier this summer, Eric and I had gone to Lowes to look at some plants. As we were walking through the parking lot, we noticed an elderly gentleman that was loading a huge stack of concrete paving stones into the back of a van. He looked like he was struggling a bit.

This was right around the time of when God was really impressing on me to “love your neighbor”. So, I was getting ready to tell Eric that he should offer to help the guy, but he beat me to it. [insert proud wife smiley face 🙂] However, the man refused Eric’s help. Twice. Eric offered a second time saying, “Are you sure?” Nope. “I’ve got it,” was his response. It was evident he was not going to ask for help nor accept help.

It made me kind of sad too, because I thought to myself, “We are just trying to obey God and love our neighbor. Why won’t he let us?” I told Eric, “Well, maybe he knows he’ll have to unload it at home by himself anyway. So he’s thinking he might as well do it now too.” Eric said, “Even more reason to accept help now.” I praised Eric for offering to help anyway.

Refusal to ask for help or accept help reveals pride

Later, I realized that to ask for help or to accept help can be a hit on our pride. It’s like we think we’re not enough somehow if we have to rely on others. What a lie. But we believe it. That’s why we so often say Continue reading